ore of spirit and fire in his verses than one naturally
expects from a follower of George Fox; but on such occasions he
displays a more careful and harmonious versification than is his
wont. There is no scarcity of these elegies in his little volume,
the _Abolitionists_, even when they escape the attentions of the
high legal functionary already alluded to, not being apparently a
long-lived class.

"_Toujours perdrix_ palls in poetry as in cookery; we grow tired after
awhile of invectives against governors of slave-states and mercenary
persons, and dirges for untimely perished Abolitionists. The wish
suggests itself that Whittier would not always

'Give up to a party what is meant for mankind,'

but sometimes turn his powers in another direction. Accordingly, it is
a great relief to find him occasionally trying his hand on the early
legends of New England and Canada, which do not suffer such ballads as
_St. John_....

"Whittier is less known than several other Western bards to the
English reader, and we think him entitled to stand higher on the
American Parnassus than most of his countrymen would place him. His
faults--harshness and want of polish--are evident; but there is
more life, and spirit, and soul in his verses, than in those of
eight-ninths of Mr. Griswold's immortal ninety.

"From political verse (for the anti-slavery agitation must be
considered quite as much a political as a moral warfare) the
transition is natural to satire and humorous poetry. Here we find no
lack of matter, but a grievous short-coming in quality. The Americans
are no contemptible humorists in prose, but their fun cannot be set
to verse. They are very fond of writing parodies, yet we have scarcely
ever seen a good parody of American origin. And their satire is
generally more distinguished for personality and buffoonery than
wit. Halleck's _Fanny_ looks as if it might be good, did we only know
something of the people satirized in it. The reputed comic poet of the
country at present is OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, a physician. Whether
it was owing to the disappointment caused by hearing too much in his
praise beforehand we will not pretend to say, but it certainly did
seem to us that Dr. Holmes' efforts in this line must originally
have been intended to act upon his patients emetically. After a
conscientious perusal of the doctor, the most readable, and about the
only presentable thing we can find in him, is the bit of seriocomic
entitle